The Future Restoration Of Israel - Part 9 - Scriptures In Isaiah Series

THE FUTURE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL - PART 9 - SCRIPTURES IN ISAIAH

This is Part 9 of a wider study into the Restoration of Israel from the Old Testament prophetic books. This will be the last one in the prophet Isaiah.

{{Isaiah 62:1-3 “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning. Isa 62:2 The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory and you will be called by a new name which the mouth of the LORD will designate. Isa 62:3 You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”}}

The Lord defends Zion until her glory is manifested in her everlasting salvation. Isaiah frequently looks at two spiritual blessings for the restored nation, they being salvation and righteousness. Those two it could never achieve, and failed constantly. However when the grace of the Lord falls on them and the Lord brings them through the fire, then, and only then, will His grace bring them into everlasting salvation and righteousness. Verse 2 informs us there is a new name for the righteous of Israel but only the Lord knows it at this point. The descriptions are majestic – “crown of beauty” and “royal diadem”, a devotion and great love of the Lord for His people.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

{{Isaiah 62:4-5 It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”, but you will be called, “My delight is in her,” and your land, “Married” for the LORD delights in you, and to Him your land will be married. Isa 62:5 As a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.”}}

This is just too wonderful. God is so good. He rewards when we just don’t deserve it. He has done that for Christians in the Church, and He will do the same for Israel. “Forsaken” is what the Jews are know as, I think as far back as the time of the Assyrian invasion and dispersion. “Desolate” is the name of Israel's land, even though today science is starting to improve that situation. In Hosea’s time God had said, “No more compassion” (Hosea 1:6); “Not My people, Not your God” (Hosea 1:9). However it all turns around when the Lord takes up His people again and God says, “My delight is in her” and “Married” and Hosea says, “You are sons of the living God”. Verse 5 is so full of grace, because Israel was polluted with sins, but grace will see her in her restoration as a chaste virgin, and the Lord will rejoice over her, His beloved nation. It is no accident that these prophetic passages about Israel very frequently link the nation and the Jews to the land.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

{{Isaiah 62:6 “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen. All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves, Isa 62:7 and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”}}

Here is something quite amazing. It is a call to those who have the welfare of Israel on their hearts to keep beseeching the Lord on behalf of the nation. Keep reminding the Lord (of his promises and covenant)! Don’t slacken or rest up doing that. In fact, don’t let God have any rest as well. Keep reminding Him and even, could it reverently mean, “pester God” until He establishes Jerusalem with the great position the prophets have spoken of her. Keep at God until it happens. Now that may look very bold to us, even pertinent, but I don’t think God minds because it is His will to establish Jerusalem and Israel as the leading city and nation in the earth.

It is a constant prayer we of the Church can make, but we know the Rapture must happen before the Jews restoration can occur, so let us give God no rest until the Rapture happens. I know that looks so bold to say, but it is how I understand this passage. In fact the Lord, Himself, said a similar thing – {{Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you, Matt 7:8 for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.”}} (The present continuous tense is used for “ask, seek, knock” meaning to keep on doing it). Learn also the same thing from this parable, sometimes called the parable of the importunate (unrelenting, persistent) judge – {{Luke 18:3-7 “here was a widow in that city and she kept coming to him saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent,’ Luke 18:4 and for a while he was unwilling, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, Luke 18:5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection lest by continually coming, she wears me out.’” Luke 18:6 The Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said. Luke 18:7 Now shall not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?”}}